'Booch News

I visited Bioma Kombucha on the final day of my trip to Barcelona for the World Kombucha Awards and KBI European Summit . Christopher Davite is the founder of Bioma Kombucha in Barcelona. His personal health struggles, including ADHD, depression, and digestive issues, along with an unexpected allergic reaction to pollen after moving to Vancouver, led him to discover the healing benefits of kombuch...

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 5 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Introduction In the mid-21st century, rising seas and extreme weather rendered traditional agriculture impossible, but kombucha cultures thrived in controlled environments. Vertical fermentation towers became humanity’s pri...

Origins Jordi Dalmau improved his health with kombucha and founded Mūn Kombucha . He is a multi-year World Kombucha Awards winner and sits on the KBI Board of Directors . Kombucha proved to be a solution to the health problems he had experienced since he was a child, which were due to Gilbert’s syndrome , which he was diagnosed with when he was only 13 years old. An engineer by profession, Jordi s...

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 4 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview The fermentation revolution isn’t about returning to the past, but about recognizing that humanity’s oldest food may be its most sophisticated—algorithms encoded in bacteria, operating on time rather than ele...

I met Khadija Benslimane at the recent KBI European Salon and World Kombucha Awards event in Barcelona. She founded KaBé Kombucha in Casablanca, Morocco, just 18 months ago. This is the first and so far the only commercial kombucha brand in a country of almost 40 million — an outstanding example of a Blue Ocean Strategy . Award Winning KaBé Kombucha was honored as the *only* recipient of a m...

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 3 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. As we look back over the last 75 years, it’s clear that the global fermentation renaissance is a story with many chapters. They wove together multiple legacies that enabled our collective survival and enjoyment of life in t...

Kombucha in a time of war Among the dozens of kombucha producers I spoke with from around the world gathered in Barcelona for the World Kombucha Awards, one stood out. Artem Manko the founder of Wild Kombucha , Kiev, Ukraine, shared the story of his brand and the effect the conflict with Russia has had on his business. It’s not what you might expect: Business in Ukraine are thriving, to be h...

Sunday, October 26, was the ‘Open House’ day for the members of the public to come to the World Kombucha Awards venue in Barcelona and meet the winners from around the world. Over 70 people from across Europe gathered on the rooftop patio to hear from each brand and sample the kombucha on offer. What an amazing event! Where else could you be in one location and drink award-winning komb...

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 2 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Building on Curro Polo’s pioneering research in the late 2020s, bio-engineered SCOBYs interfaced with quantum processors created unprecedented flavor complexity and therapeutic precision. These living computers opt...

“From Darjeeling to the world.” Rooted in the ancient wisdom of the Himalayas, Syang’s Kombucha crafts wellness-focused drinks like s parkling teas, kombucha, and functional infusions made from ancient grains, herbs, and Himalayan botanicals. From the high slopes of Darjeeling, where clouds kiss tea leaves and spring water runs pure, we create raw, living drinks that are deeply rooted...

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 1 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Breakthroughs in fermentation science occurred when researchers transitioned from mouse models to human trials. Neural-linked biosensors provided real-time gut health data, revealing each person’s unique microbial...

Stargazer Kombucha was founded in 2019 by Alison and Mike Schmitt. This boutique craft kombucha business based in Albuquerque, New Mexico is now for sale. Brewing a traditional form of kombucha, the company selects fine single-origin teas and ferments them slowly in small batches, expressing the complex flavors of each tea without adding fruit juices, purees, or syrups. Every variety is made from...

This is the first episode in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. The Preview appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Decades before the year 2100 the processed food industrial complex implodes when synthetic biology renders traditional agriculture obsolete. Corn subsidies vanish as vertical farms produce superior nutrit...

Inspired by the recent Stanford Fermented Food Conference , I imagined outlandish futures:that ultra-processed foods are a thing of the past; that crops are grown indoors after climate change devastates farmlands; that absolutely everyone makes home-brewed kombucha. This is a preview of a series about possible futures that will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. New episodes drop ev...

MOMO kombucha was in the news recently after securing an additional £2 million in investment funds. I ask co-founder Josh Puddle about the history and plans for his company. Origins In May 2016, Josh was somewhere over the North Atlantic, on a flight from London to New York, when his girlfriend, now wife, Lisa, started telling him about gut health. She claimed that there was a new drink in the Sta...

Curro Polo is currently pursuing an industrial PhD in the Basque Culinary Center program, with the academic guidance of Harvard University . His research project is taking place at Ama Brewery , where he is on the R&D team with Chef Ramón Perisé Moré who we interviewed recently . Curro is exploring the fascinating world of microbiology as it applies to beverages. We’d met at the 2024 KBI confe...

Ama Brewery produces a pét-nat tea brewed using local spring water from the Izarraitz Massif in the Basque Country, and high-quality tea and herbs. Pét-nat, an ancient method of making sparkling wine, is short for pétillant naturel , where the wine is bottled while it’s still undergoing its first fermentation, capturing the carbonation from the remaining yeast and sugar that creates bubbles...

Origins Nirraj Satish Manek and his wife, Kajall, teamed with his friend and partner, Chef Niyati Rao of Ekaa , a Mumbai fine-dining restaurant, who introduced him to kombucha. His 18-year career at financial behemoths Citibank, H&R Block, and elsewhere gave him the background to spot untapped opportunities. From his first sip of kombucha, he wondered why this natural, gut-friendly beverage wa...

Robin Singh had everything he wanted and more—well-settled in the US, financial freedom, married to the love of his life—except he was not happy. It was in his pursuit of happiness that he stumbled across his purpose. He found what he had been looking for when he started Peepal Farm , an animal rescue center and kombucha brewery. Peepal Farm is an animal rescue organization and an organic farm loc...

Suyra Prakash was introduced to kombucha while living in Denver, Colorado, in 2017, and he brought back a taste for it to India. However, he was unable to find good kombucha, so he started brewing it at home, working for a year until he got it right. His friends encouraged him to start selling. But Surya was not satisfied. His goal was to create a low-sugar kombucha that would still appeal to the...

Honey Islam authored the recent 3-part Guest Post on Booch News How the New Indian Government Tax Reform Punishes Beverage Startups , which raised concerns about a 40% tax the Indian Government plans to impose on kombucha. This Profile and podcast interview tells the story of her company. Origins The story of Mountain Bee Kombucha began in 2016, at the very first Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa....

Ezhil Mathy discovered kombucha in 2022 and started brewing small batches in her kitchen. She was guided by the recipes in Hannah Crum’s Big Book of Kombucha that she customized for the Indian palate. In May, 2024 she announced on Instagram that Dramila Kombucha was available in Chennai cafes and restaurants. She’s now outgrown her kitchen and ferments in 10 L glass jars in a dedicated...

MAVI’s Pantry is a homegrown artisanal fermented food and beverage brand which makes gut-friendly functional products like kombucha, kimchi, kvas, ginger ale, kanji, and sauerkraut using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. They started with kombucha and it still is their flagship product. MAVI’s is named after Meenakshi and her husband Vikram (MA+VI) who started out making kombuch...

An attendee at the Stanford Fermented Food Conference I wanted to meet was Aga Pokrywka the host of Ferment Radio , a fascinating and informative podcast series that began back in 2020 and has posted almost 50 episodes. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts. It’s a podcast with a noble mission: Ferment Radio is a podcast series that takes you deep into the fascinating world of micro...

The two-day conference wrapped up Friday afternoon with a Fermentation Festival where attendees gathered in the courtyard of the Clark Center to sample food and beverages from a variety of vendors. Attendee Impressions I asked some of the attendees to share their impressions of the conference. The best thing about this conference is… it’s the most interesting conference I’ve ever...